8 Voice Over Techniques That Work!

8 Voice Over Techniques That Work!


"Practice makes perfect" is dumb. Why? Because reaching "perfect"
means that there's NO more room for improvement... But you should
NEVER stop improving.

I'm a perfect example: after 21 years of helping voice talent sound
better, I still get better. And so our production clients keep
hiring us because we keep making them sound better.

So we thought we'd offer some PRACTICE HELP.

First, PRACTICE NOTES:

Practicing incorrectly can do more harm than good so read the
following carefully!

When new to voice over, do not record more than 30 seconds worth
of copy without listening back. If you are reading incorrectly,
and you read for long durations, the incorrect delivery will become
reinforced.

Do NOT ask friends and family "how you sound." Their ears
are not trained. They will miss things and you will reinforce
bad habits. INSTEAD feel welcome to use our "Ask-A-Coach" to give
some line-reads.

Next, PRACTICE METHODS:

Begin by listening to TV. Rather than "watching" TV, close your
eyes and pay attention to just the voice over on documentaries and
national commercials. (Tune out local commercials which sometimes
are recorded by business-owners and other less-experienced talent.)
Extract the music and sound effects. Notice how the voice over is
less energetic than you originally thought. Then gauge how much
energy the visuals, music, and sound effects added, so that you do
NOT overdo it when recording. In other words, if a script needs an
energy level of 7, perhaps reading at a 5 is sufficient since music,
sound effects and visuals will add more energy.

Next, practice the art of using your natural voice in front of
the microphone. Simply record your own natural conversation (while
speaking to someone). Then transcribe it and re-record yourself
reading the transcription. Listen back to both recordings - they
should sound identical. If they don't, you have more practicing
to do.

Record, play-back, and critique your practice sessions. (Note:
do not critique your performance during recording, as it is tough
to concentrate on both simultaneously.) If you do not review your
recordings, you're liable to miss your mistakes, and therefore
reinforce bad habits.

Practice reading long scripts ("duration training") such as
audio books, narrations, biographies, documentaries, and so on.
After recording 5 or more minutes, quickly listen back to the
beginning, middle, and end. Listen for consistency. If you were
consistent, try a longer recording.

Read to groups of people, as this will prepare you for reading in
front of directors, engineers, clients, scriptwriters, and so on.
Libraries, schools, radio stations, and care organizations offer
reading for the blind, reading for children, and reading for
the aged.

Mimic professional voice talent. This will increase your ability
to mimic directors when they vocally suggest how they want you to
deliver the copy during a recording session. To do this, record
a professional voice over, transcribe it, and then mimic it back
into your recorder. Lastly listen back to both recordings to ensure
they sound the same. NOTE: Do NOT try to imitate the voice-type of
the professional (in other words, use your natural voice) rather
mimic the speed, energy level, emphasis, word flow, and comfort of
the professional.

Practice with as many styles of voice over as possible, so that
you can increase the amount of services you offer your customers.
For example, during one practice session, work with children's
scripts, and during another session, work with audiobooks. Go to
www.edgestudio.com/scripts.htm and find 22 categories of scripts
to work with.

Practice with as many characters as possible, as this will
increase your ability to take direction as well as get you thinking
outside the box. Listen to characters on cartoons, animated movies,
talking toys, videogames, and so on. Record them, transcribe them,
record them yourself, and then listen back to hear if you're as
"vocally free" as they are. Go to www.edgestudio.com/scripts.htm
and find categories of scripts such as "kid's", "animation", and
so on to work with.


If you haven't gotten it by now, we STRONGLY encourage practicing.
With us, by yourself, with a small group of other talent.